Weymouth man acquitted of manslaughter in father's death

Prosecutors had accused Michael Beaudry, 22, of hitting his father in the head with a plastic pipe in 2013.

Neal Simpson The Patriot Ledger @nsimpson_ledger

It took a jury about 40 minutes to acquit Michael Beaudry of manslaughter in the 2013 death of his father.

Beaudry, 22, was released from Dedham Superior Court minutes after jurors delivered their verdict early Monday afternoon clearing him of manslaughter and assault and battery. The jury had begun deliberating shortly before noon after a weeklong trial.

Beaudry was arrested in February 2013 after police found him outside his Cross Street home holding a shirt to his father's bloody head and pleading for help. His father, 58-year-old Ronald Beaudry, was taken to South Shore Hospital and died a short time later.

Prosecutors said Beaudry had struck his father in the head with a plastic pipe and knocked him to the ground following an argument over a BB gun. But in a video-recorded statement that was played for jurors, Beaudry told police that he had reacted to his father coming at him outside the home and didn't mean to hurt him.